As we enter Labor Day Weekend, many are filled with thoughts of “This is the last weekend to wear white”!  But oh the joys of being a bride and wearing and using white whenever you want! I started off with these gorgeous shoes today as there is a beautiful wedding featuring them on the Eco-Beautfiul Weddings Blog today! Just click on the shoes to see more.

Below are a few of our favorite white wedding yummies for you to dream about this weekend!

Photo credits/captions of what we did in each photo – Left to Right, Top to Bottom

Elegance & Simplicity, White Delphinium at Thorpewood

Documentary Associates, White Chuppah at Woodend Sanctuary

Elegance and Simplicity,White delphinium and White phaleanopsis orchid lapel flowers at Halcyon House

Cappy Hotchkiss Photography, Garden Rose, white phaleanopsis, lisianthus, phalaeanopsis and peony bouquet at Halcyon House

K. Thompson Photography, Manzanita branches with roses and clear hanging votives at Brookside Gardens

Have a wonderful holiday weekend!!

We finally got images from a wedding we did in May at Woodend Sanctuary and we are so excited to show them to you! Above is the bride with her sister just before the wedding in the grove at Woodend.  The bride had a lovely bouquet comprised of peonies in different shades of pink and ranunculus accents.  Her sister held a beautiful bouquet with garden roses, lavender, peonies, lisianthus, freesia and rosemary.

My absolute favorite detail from this wedding were the hanging votives our team hung in between the trees facing the meadow down at the grove.  The green and clear glass votives added such a touch of elegance for this gorgeous ceremony!

Here are our pretty vintage green tumblers filled with local peonies and rosemary for the cocktail hour.

The gorgeous railing decor with cocculus greenery garland and peony accents!  (Bride and groom provided the cute banner!)

Our pretty Pottery Barn chocolate urns on our custom-designed wooden pedestals filled with manzanita branches with hanging glass votives!  These were set in between the French doors outside under the tented reception area.

Finally the pretty centerpieces that had curly willow inside the vases for a nest feel (bird theme taken from the idea that Woodend is a bird sanctuary and run by the Audubon Natualist Society!).  Local green hydrangea and lovely burgundy peonies and white ranunculus accents.

Congrats to Caroline and David on their May nuptials!

(All photography except for last image were provided by Tara Welch Photography; last image by us!)

Was just looking through some older photos from brides over the years and came across some of my favorite wedding dress details.  Folks – don’t give up on buying vintage or worn-once gowns – look at what you can find!

Above left was from a bride where we did  the wedding in Anguilla.  Her Melissa Sweet dress is simply timeless and fun!

Above right is a gown from Amsale from a wedding we did at Woodend Sanctuary.  Just the beautiful hand-sewn detail of reused materials for the flower makes me happy!

Bottom left is a gown from Lazaro (which the bride met in person at Kleinfeld’s in New York) was just an absolutely stunning dress!  The details were magnificent at her beautiful wedding at the Ronald Reagan Building!

Finally, the bottom right gown is from Vera Wang at a wedding we did at the Decatur House.  Simple and lovely with flower and button detailing!

All photos were taken by Documentary Associates!

We had such a beautiful wedding at Woodend a few weeks ago…just waiting on the professional photos from the photographer.  Here is a photo of the backdrop of hanging votives that we did for the ceremony.  Just a simple backdrop that created a little bit of drama!  More to come!

While I prep the photos from last weekend’s weddings…I wanted to give you a sneak peek of an upcoming extensive post I plan to do on fruits and floral designs.  They are wildly popular and create a lot of impact in a simple and effective way.  We try to use only local fruits and veggies or at least from the States!  Stay tuned for more!

Ahhh – Nicole…I will never forget when you whipped out that photo of your dress when you came to my studio. It was love (for me) at first sight!!  I wanted your blue dress on my blog and now – here it is baby!

Nicole had tons of dried purple, green and blue hydrangea from her mother’s backyard for us to use!  It meant a ton to her for us to use them as we added other fresh, local and sustainable flowers into the mix!  This incredible fall bouquet worked beautifully with her gorgeous blue gown.  Her bouquet was comprised of burgundy dahlias, link pink ranunculus, scabiosa pods, astrantia with hints of the dried hydrangea.

Jeffrey wore such a handsome suit and we created a matching boutonniere comprised of a single burgundy dahlia and florets of the dried green hydrangea.

The centerpieces were comprised of dried hydrangea, dahlias and roses which were set off beautifully on those chocolate pin-tuck linens!  YUM!

Congrats to Nicole + Jeffrey on such a beautiful eco-friendly wedding!  Stay tuned for more images in our featured weddings section of the website!

The gorgeous photos are from Heather Z Photography!

I was so excited to be a part of Nicole’s wedding last fall!  Look at her dress!  Yes – it’s blue!  I can’t wait to showcase the rest of the images from her wedding later this week!

Stay tuned!

Photography by Heather Z Photography

Over the past few weeks I have met with so many fun brides that are looking for purples and lavenders for their wedding flowers!

So it got me thinking – I better do a blog post about this!  I created the above color palette as I met with one of my clients and we came up with a fun design scheme complete with flowers, furniture and colorful linens galore!  Purple has always been one of my favorite colors and can be used everywhere!  So here are my picks for purple for your wedding and your home!

(Credits Top Marta Locklear, Documentary Associates and ME!)

Some of the best purple floral designs use hydrangea, roses, calla lilies and orchids.  But don’t forget fresh lavender, veronica, delphinium, stock, aliums, carnations, agapanthus, caspia, statice, anemones, hyacinth, muscari and so much more!  Check in with us to find out what is available for your wedding day!

This photo from Apartment Therapy is just delicious!  This should inspire you to use purple with matte gold items for your wedding day.  Go with matte gold chivari chairs and gold rimmed plates to get this regal look! Heck – get someone like Kendall’s Cakes or Cakes by Design to paint with edible gold on your cake or wrap pretty matte gold ribbons around the tiers of your cake.  (And no – I will not spray any of my flowers with gold – sorry folks!)

And this beautiful combination of purples, aquas and blues is enough to make me swoon!  I am starting to dream of an amazing lounge combination with purple and blue flowers with funky aqua bridesmaid dresses!  The splash of red gerbera daisies adds the extra touch of whimsy!

If you have not found inspiration for your purple wedding and modern home landscape here – let me know and I will whip up something purple next week!

I have finally found the time to showcase Janice and Anna’s wedding from Woodend from earlier this year at Woodend!

Janice and Anna chose matching bridal bouquets comprised of ranunculus, green cymbidium orchids and white lisinathus – perfect for their green and white toned wedding!

Janice and Anna had a book theme for their reception table numbers and each table had slightly different floral designs with pops of orange and pink tones to compliment the white and green colors from the ceremony! (Above white mums, orange gerbera daisies, burgundy mums with limes inside the vase – on the table with one of my favorite books of all time!).

Congrats to Janice + Anna!  To see more of their wedding, check out the more extensive blog post on Legally Wed DC.

photos by Barbara Salisbury

We are excited to finally showcase Melanie and Michael’s wedding from June at Woodend Sanctuary.  As many of you know – it is one of my favorite locations in the entire Washington, DC area.

We helped Melanie and Michael with a partial planning package along with all of her flowers and decor.  Her bridal bouquet was comprised of lavender and white mini calla lilies with light blue delphinium and fresh lavender accents.

They kept the ceremony pretty simple and added a touch of whimsy with these adorable purple, lavender and white carnation pomanders – which we reused on the back of the chairs at the head table during the reception.

Their centerpieces had luscious local purple hydrangea with lavender vanda orchids.

Melanie had so much fun picking out their candy for the candy bar!  She did not stick to a color theme – she stuck to the candies that both her and Michael loved!

Congratulations Melanie and Michael!

And thanks to Martha Fitzsimon for all the beautiful photos!

Scenario #1: You are only paying for a few items of the wedding. Your daughter and her fiancé are paying for the venue and the dinner and they are trying to keep within their budget.  Everywhere they’ve looked that they like is waaay over their budget, so they sheepishly show up for Sunday dinner and suggest your house since you do have a wonderful area for entertaining inside and a large backyard with some big trees and neighbors that don’t have ‘tacky’ yards.  On 1^st thought, this sounds like a really nice way for everyone to save some money! YAY!

Whoa, though!  You and your husband need to really take a good look around the inside of the house where guests might wander and the outside – not only the yard itself but the exterior of the house – need new shutters?  Shingles looking faded? Never did get that patio finished?  Haven’t opened the pool for the last two years?  Inside: floors – need new carpet or does the hardwood need refinishing?  Have you been putting off getting the kitchen redone since the stock market played havoc with your finances (the reason you aren’t paying for everything)? Bathrooms – major stains in sinks or on the ceramic tile?  Did the bath upstairs leak through the ceiling in the guest bath on the 1^st floor?  Would you need to go ahead and buy a new sofa or get the dining room table refinished, paint the downstairs (which would lead to more décor changes), chimney swept, new window treatment and have the backyard professionally landscaped?  Hire a tent person, rent chairs and tables, hire someone to make an altar are for the service itself?  By the time you add everything up, you might be spending much more than renting one of the ‘best’ places available.  If a venue rents for $6000.00 against that $20,000-$45,000 to ‘fix’ the house in order to be ready for the wedding…then perhaps you might want to steer the couple somewhere else.  Don’t forget…this wedding will have its stressors but a lot more might be piled on if it were to be held at your home.

Scenario #2. What if the newly engaged couple suggests the wedding should be held at his home?  Whew!  That would let you off the hook.  But then, ‘they (his parents)’ might be calling most of the shots, wouldn’t they?   Hmmm.  It is your daughter’s wedding.  But, don’t forget, it is their son’s wedding too.  Of course, the reality is that no matter how well you get along with the new ‘in-laws’, there is the location ownership factor to be considered.  In the end, it just might not matter one whit.  However, all of you should consider that aspect before his parents are approached.

Scenario #3. Different types of locations to consider:

Destination wedding….hope you don’t mind if we leave this one for another blog post!

Guest list 75 people. The wedding could be held at a location such as Woodend which offers a MD country setting that is relaxed yet elegant. With its classic Greek portico, sweeping lawns, and spacious, high-ceilinged rooms, Woodend provides a beautiful setting. They do have a list of caterers they allow on property.

Guest list is 180. Perhaps you’ll consider an historic building in DC such as the very elegant Decatur House Museum? As the first neighboring residence to the White House, dating to 1818, the Decatur House is one of the oldest surviving homes in Washington, DC. It sits right on Lafayette Park which can provide the most wonderful backdrop of the White House for outside photos of the wedding party before the event.  Twenty-foot vaulted ceilings top the spacious ballroom, decorated in neutral tones, and the wall of windows and French doors bring the brick courtyard into view.

(Note: if it is held here, then the bride and groom might want to consider spending their wedding night at the Hay Adams Hotel which is only a block away…they can walk there after the reception. Wedding guests with sparklers to send them on their way could form a double line for the couple to walk through.)

Guest list 450 of your nearest and dearest friends, your ex-husband and his wife’s friends, the couples’ friends and co-workers (he is a Congressman – so security is an issue too), his mother and her husband’s friends, his father and his wife’s friends and although you only have 3 children, his family has a blended brood of 8 siblings and their families…plus the bride wants it to be spectacular and in DC!    OK – there are quite a few places to choose from…we really are lucky to have locations that can handle large crowds (remember the inaugural balls/dinners). There is the National Building Museum or how about the Ronald Reagan Building where you can have a reception in the Woodrow Wilson Plaza and the dinner/dancing inside.

One note of caution:  For a wedding/reception to be held in DC or the wedding in VA or MD and the reception in DC – don’t forget about traffic and where will the guests park?   You might want to consider hiring a valet service that will handle all that for you!

Rather than having to run all over town looking at 10-15 sites and think of all the multitude of items for “THE LIST”…might it be better to choose a really wonderful wedding planner?  And might it also be wonderful to choose one that can ‘green’ your daughter’s wedding?  Try the Washington, DC Green Wedding Consortium!

Happy Planning!
~Claudia Van Veen

This issue is amazing – complete with all sorts of ideas from all over the place about how to go green for your wedding day!  We were able to do an amazing photo shoot at Woodend Sanctuary to showcase some of the green styling we do for weddings.

The amazing vendors that were involved include: Tom Van Veen of Documentary Associates, Debbie Delardi from Cakes by Design, DC Rental & Table Manners!

Click on the images to enlarge them!

Photos are trickling in from earlier this year and I am finally able to post about a few of them.

Brides love Woodend and we love being there!  Amy Czelusniak took these wonderful photos of Rachel & Paul’s Wedding.  I loved the colors she used and Amy always takes such amazing photos!  We created floral desiigns with lots of vibrant colors in the flowers along with an elegant and simple chuppah design with an Italian ruscus garland.

Congrats Rachel & Paul!

~Katie Martin

Soneela’s make-up and hair was done by Carola Myers.

After the ceremony, the guests had so much fun dancing the night away to Indian Music and feasting on a fantastic buffet of Indian cuisine.  Catering by Windows helped all night long and provided the chairs as they catered the Western Wedding the next day at Woodend Sanctuary (including this fabulous cake).  Their 2nd day was filled with bright purples, oranges and greens.  Soneela changed outfits twice throughout the evening.  They had fantastic music as provided by Soor from MyDeejay.com! (Extra kudos go out to Soor for bringing 3 sets of equipment!)

Congratulations Soneela & Walker!!!  We loved working with you!  Hopefully we will see you soon in NYC!

Cheers!

Katie Martin

Here is a photo from Mary Gardella Hester’s blog post about the wedding this past weekend.  We love Mary over at Love Life Images!

photo by Love Life Images

Click on the photo to see the rest of the details from the wedding!  We provided lanterns for the umbrellas and beautiful garden style centerpieces for the table. They even had a Beatles cover band! So funny, as the other wedding we did over at Woodend (on the same day) had the entire wedding party and guests sing “Good Day, Sunshine” by the Beatles at the end of the ceremony!  I will post on that wedding hopefully next week!

Congrats to all of our brides this past week!

Katie Martin

Amanda with Occasions helped to create a beautiful eco-friendly wedding buffet for the couple.  All left-over food scraps were placed into compost bins and the food was amazing!

Here are a few photos from the day:

The chuppah was adorned with purple delphinium and white and green orchids!  We will be using it again next week at the Westin Grand!

The bride choose beautiful shades of lavender and purple flowers with a hint of green (including local fresh English lavender, delphinium, freesia, roses and calla lilies).  While the bridesmaid (her sister) had a simpler bouquet to match her pretty burgundy gown.

We love being able to be creative!  Using deer moss and curly willow to create a real tree-like feel inside the mansion with the escort card table.

The centerpieces reflecting the escort card table and the bridal bouquet.

We always have a fun time creating interesting concepts for a real eco-friendly venue such as Woodend!  We will be there next week as well for Soneela and Walker’s wedding!

Cheers! – Katie Martin